"There's some indication also of some improvements in attendance at school but I'd have to say there's a lot lot further to go in that area," she said.

"There's some evidence of some improvement, there's other areas where we really are expecting to see and are going to need to deliver significant improvements."

Ms Macklin says sales of cigarettes have halved at community stores licensed under the Emergency Response.

She says 59 community stores are now participating in the income management scheme, which reserves half of welfare payments for essentials such as food and rent.

The Opposition's Indigenous affairs spokesman, Tony Abbott, says he is pleased the Government has made a commitment to the intervention.

He welcomes news of reductions in substance abuse, gambling and domestic violence but says he is unhappy some of his government's measures have been rolled back.

"The restoration of the permit system, the watering down of the pay TV porn ban and the restoration of CDEP and its implications for effective quarantining in the impacted townships are potentially significant steps backward," he said.

Saturday marks one year since the former government decided to send an Emergency Response Taskforce into remote Northern Territory communities to combat child abuse.

Ms Macklin has signalled that the federal intervention will continue beyond its review.

She says more needs to be done in the area of primary health care.

"You've got to look at the evidence, look at what's working, where it is working [and] of course continue those measures, [and] where its not working or where there are improvements that need to be made, make them," she said.

"I think we should always work on the basis of evidence and that's the purpose of the review."